Enemy of the State
The more time you spend with Austrian economists or libertarian intellectuals, the more you realize that Murray Rothbard's influence has been underestimated. No, his name is not a household word but his influence is felt in another way: those who read him experience what amounts to the intellectual challenge of their lives. Whether that means adopting his paradigmatic approach to political economy, elaborating on a feature of his system, or attempting a refutation, once read, Rothbard seems inescapable. FULL ARTICLE
Comments (6)
Please, for international people,
Make your books available on amazon, it's a lot cheaper for international shipping fees than your shipping provider.
Thanks,
Vincent.
Published: November 24, 2006 9:09 AM
Rothbard was a giant, indeed! I'm afraid that a lot of the Christian right will be tempted to dismiss all of his work because of his ethical system, but I encourage them not to. A wise professor told me years ago that every writer has his faults and advised me to take the best and leave the rest. Rothbard's economics and history are among the best. Neglecting them will leave us much poorer and deprive us of vital tools for battling socialism.
Published: November 24, 2006 9:32 AM
Could anyone tell me whether Rothbard ever had any children?
Published: November 24, 2006 11:59 AM
Rothbard had no children. Although he once told me that he did send money monthly to one of those programs where you "adopt" a child overseas so that the child is fed and clothed.
Published: November 24, 2006 12:56 PM
Vincent,
This book is available at Amazon. In fact, I bought it a few months ago before the Mises Store began offering it.
Published: November 25, 2006 10:28 AM
In the very early 80s I adored Milton Friedman and Monetarism. I ordered many books from the Laissez Faire books store in New York (which I also visited in 1989).
I received a flyer from the store and saw the book For a New Liberty, by Murray Rothbard, and read some information about it. Then I ordered it. When I had received and read it, a new world had appeared for me.
It is not an easy task to become a libertarian in a country like Sweden. One of the subjects in school was called “Samhällskunskap” which means “knowledge about society” and you might already guess what that “knowledge” was all about. It was some kind of information about the welfare state, democracy, parliament, “social problems” etc. In the end of the schoolbook also called “Samhällskunskap” there was a chapter about the USA and a chapter about the Soviet Union. Actually, I was quite good in that subject!
Our television was controlled by the government and in the late 60s we had two channels (TV 1 & TV 2). I learned a lot and I am still learning a lot about societal problems through public broadcasting (joke).
During the 80s the government was more and more unable to completely control the television, because of competition from cable TV networks. Before every Swedish guy bought a parabola antenna the government was very quick to allow a commercial TV station and a channel (TV 4). The government regulated the channel through a “contract” which expires, I believe, after something like 5 years. This so called contract or lease regulates in detail what TV 4 shall be allowed to broadcast. If TV 4 does not meet the government’s criterions the lease will not be extended. So nowadays we here in Sweden get taught in “samhällskunskap” also through TV 4´s broadcasting. By allowing TV 4 before the cable network was extended, TV 4 grew large and could reap most of the incomes from commercials and gain a large market share, and in that way hinder the development of the cable channels. For the government was unable to regulate the cable stations as they broadcasts from abroad. Quite clever and impressive! Still, the market broke the monopoly power of the government and we have, nowadays, a lot of cable channels to choose from.
Well, in this environment it is quite difficult and hard to learn and comprehend libertarianism. There is always a psychological barrier to conquer, the barrier which I was brought up with. Later on in life, it was nearly impossible to understand that it was, for example, not the market but the government that was the very cause of the business cycles. I was always taught the opposite! I just couldn’t believe it!
Milton Friedman was easier to understand, because he blamed the Federal Reserve for not “doing their job properly” during the depression, but if his monetary “theory” was correct it was, really, the market that was to blame for the great depression as there was a need for a Federal Reserve “doing its job properly” in the first place.
Well, at last, I broke all the barriers and this because of an intellectual giant called Murray Rothbard.
http://www.answers.com/topic/laissez-faire-books
Björn Lundahl
Göteborg, Sweden
Published: November 26, 2006 1:05 PM